Guard rail fastener



Dec. 12, 1933. T. MANEY GUARD RAIL FASTENER Filed Sept. 14, 1951 I5 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 12, T M NE 1,939,560

GUARD RAIL FASTENER Filed Sept; 14, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 12, 1933. MANEY 1,939,560

GUARD RAIL FASTBNER Filed Sept. 14, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Dec. 12, 1933 1,939,560. GUARD mm. FASTENER Thomas Maney, Loulsville, Ky.

Application September 14, 1931 Serial No. 5 2,179

19 Claims. (01. 233- This invention relates to an improvement in guardrail fasteners, in which a chair for the guard rail is seated. on'a tie plate and supports the guard rail. Under certain circumstances,

8 it is desirable to fasten'the' chair directly to the plate and to use the weight or .the rolling load as "a holding downagent'through the medium.

of the plate rather than the rail.

In' my former Patent Numbers 1,638,739, of

9, I927: 1,639,524, otAugust 16, 1927;

and 1,713,878, of May2'1j1929, the guard rails were shown as fix'ed'to the'chairs, and the latter were provided with means for'underlying ,a portion of the main rail inorder' to hold them down 18 on the tie plate in position to support the guard rail." At the "same'tim'e; the chairs were separable from the guard rail andtieiplate, which is desirable 'to facilitate installation or the removal ofparts. IO In my present invention, this separable rela- Wt 'tion between tie 'plate,guard rail and chair is retained, but provision is made for securing the chair directly to the tie'pl'ate by separable fasteners, which pennit'ready removal of the chair 'or guardrail an'd'whichmakes use of the weight of the rolling load through the medium of'the main railfand tie 'plate to hold the chair and guard railsecurelydown in proper positions.

"Another feature of my present invention is the adjustability of the chair, wherein it may be moved inwardor tilted, "or both, by the use of lateral and vertical shims at the rear of the chair, and arms carried by the chair serve to prevent a complete overturning oithe main tall but allow the main rail to cant within safe limits. In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my invention showing themain and guardrails in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is"a top pla1n view thereof; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the tie plate and chair' taken from'the left-hand side of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4"is'"a siniilar'view taken from the righthand'side or Fig.1; i .Fig. 5 is a detached perspective view or a nut 451001;; and 1 Figs. Sand 7, Band 9, 10 and 11 are, respec- V tively', detail plan and sectional views of the outer sides of the chair and plate, showing various adjustments of the 'chair by meansof shims.

' The tie plate 1 is of the usual construction, provided with an upturned shoulder 2 atom extreme 'end and with a shoulder 3 spaced inward from" the opposite end in position to receive an edge of the base flange of the main rail 4, which is seated on the tie plate 1.

The usual openings 5 are provided to receive spikes for securing the tie plate to the tie.

The chair is designatedas a whole by the numeral 6 and is provided'with a base portion 7, from which an upstandingjarm 8 extends, upwardlyand inwardly, and. is provided with lateral flanges 9 to fit under and'fenga'ge the head of the guard rail 10,and.which guard rail is held in place by a clip 10. A seat 11 is formed in the chair 6 to receive the base of. the guard rail and support the same; The forward edge of the base a 7. is provided with notches 12 therein to receive, bolts 13, the lower endportionsjor which have flattened sides 14 extending, through elliptical. slots 15 formed in the tie plate 1 toprevent the bolts from turning in these slots. Heads 16 on the lower ends of the bolts engageunder the bottom ofthe tie plate. The bolts 13 are thus upstanding from the tie plate 1 and receive the notches 12 in the base 7 of the chair, andthe upper ends of these bolts 13 have nuts 17 screwed thereon, which nuts are, however, substantially elongated to permit ready connection with a wrench. Washers 18 are interposed. between the undersides of the nuts 17 and the upper surface of the base 7. of the chair, and as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, these washers overhang the edgeof the base flange of the main rail 4 so as to permita slight cant of the main rail but preventinga'complete overturn thereof. The slots 15 for the bolts 13 are approximately at an edge of the main rail base flange.

After the tie plates and main rails have been applied and secured in place, the chair 6 is placed on the plate in the position shown in Fig. 1,

where itabuts against the upstanding shoulder 2 1 and the washers 18 are then applied to the bolts 13 and the nuts 17screwed down into place. The nuts are always accessible for turning, and after a limited period of service, suflicient to reduce any minor inequalities in the bearingsurfaces, the nuts should be again tightened and locked in place by the insertion of locking stips 19 between the sides of the chair 6 and the nuts 17, said locking strips having angularly grooved faces 20 therein for receiving the corners of the nutsand holding the nuts against turning.

The washers 18 are of such size and position as to leave any desired distance between them and the upper side of the main rail base. This prevents any ordinary movement of the main rail, except that of direct lateral pressure, from being transmitted to the chair and, at the same time, prevents the main rail from lifting on the inside beyond a fixed distance. Ordinarily, the main rail the arrows A, B and C, and while the principal.

wear will be against the side of the guard rail head at the upper end of the arm 8 and the flanges 9, due to the pressure of the guard rail thereagainst by the wheel flanges, nevertheless some wear will take place at the point designated by the I arrow D from pressure and movement of the rail" base. As originally applied, the main rail baseis spaced slightly from the chair base '7 at D, which distance may be approximately one-sixteenth of .an inch, but due to wear at this point, this distance will increase, and when it has increased to approximately one-eighth of an inch, the chair 6 may be bodily adjusted laterally; as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, by the insertion of the shim 2l'between the back edge of the chair -6 andthe upstanding shoulder 2 of the tie plate 1, the opposite ends of the shim 21 being bent forwardly about the sides of the chair 6 as shown at 22. As wear increases, subsequent adjustments may be made by the use of other shims, as for instance shown at 23 in Figs. 8 and 9, which not only moves the chair inward toward the main rail but also lifts the rear of" the chair. Further lifting action may be accomplished by the use of shims 24 and '25 in Figs. lo'andll, which provides a considerable range of adjustment forthe. head of the guard rail by a method that is very inexpensive and simple.

The shims may be applied without the removal of any parts and locked in place by bending the free ends, as shown. This method of adjustment causes an inward adjustment of the guard rail head by tilting the chair about a point of contact with the plate at the front of the chair, as well as causing a desired inward shifting movement thereof.

I claim:

1. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate, a chair for supporting a guard rail, and means for causing tilting movement of the chair relative to the tie plate tocause an inward adjustment of the guard rail head- 2. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate, a chair mounted thereon for supporting a guard rail, and means for causingv an inward tilting movement of the chair-about the point of contact with the tie plate at the front of the chair for causing an inward adjustment of the guard rail head.

3. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a 'tie plate, a chair mounted thereon, and a shim inserted between the chair and tie plate for causing an inward tilting movement of. the chair and an adjustment of the guard rail.

4. In aguard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate, a chair mounted thereon for supporting a guard rail, and a shim inserted under an edge of the chair for causing an inward tilting movement of said chair and an inward adjustment of the guard rail head.

5. In a guard rail fastener, the combination H "of a tie plate, a chair mounted thereon for supporting the guard rail, and a shim inserted under the outer edge of the chair between said chair and the tie plate for causing an inward tilting movement of the chair about the point of contact of the chair with the tie plate at the front of the chair, for causing an inward adjustment of the guard rail head.

6. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of atie-plate, a guard rail chair mounted thereon, and. a shim inserted between the tie plate and chair for causing an inward tilting movement of the chair.

7. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a, tie plate, a guard rail chair mounted thereon, and a flat'shim inserted between the tie plate and chair for causing an inward shifting movement of the chair, said shim having the ends thereof bent laterally to prevent displacement.

8. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie'plate having an upturned flange, a chair supported on the plate, and a shim inserted between the flange and the chair for causing an inward shifting movement of the chair, and having laterally bent ends to prevent displacement thereof.

9. In a guard a .tie' plate'for supporting a main rail, a chair rail fastener, the combination of g .mounted on the tie plate beside the main rail, and

normally spaced slightly therefrom, said chair being adapted to receive a guard rail, and a flat shim of approximately uniform thickness 5: throughout inserted between the outer portions of. the tie plate and chair for causing an inward adjustment. of the guardrail, saidshim having laterally turned end portions to prevent displacement thereof, 1 j

10. Ina guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate for receiving a main rail, a chair mounted on the'tie plate beside the main rail, said chair being adapted to receive a guard rail, and meansfor causinga tilting of the chair rela- 3-. tive to the tie plate for adjusting the position of the guard rail.

11. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate for receiving a main rail, a chair mounted on the tie plate beside. the main-rail and adapted to support a guard rail, and a shim for causing a tilting movement of the chair about its point of engagement with a tie plate at the front of the chair, for causing an inward adjustment of the guard rail. 1 p

- 12. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate for receiving a main rail, and a guard rail chair supported on the tie plate beside the main rail and. carrying a projection overlapping the main rail base flange, spaced above saidg; base flange and normally free to contact with the 'main rail.

13. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate for supporting amain rail for slight turning movements thereon, and a chair mounted;; on the tie plate beside the main rail and having spaced project-ions overlapping the main rail base in normally spaced relation therefrom to permit slight turning movement of the main rail and adapted to be engaged by said main rail base and limit said turning movement.

14. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate adapted to support a main rail for slight turning movements thereon, a chair mounted on the tie plate beside the main rail, bolts for thechair, and one or more members secured to the chair by the bolts and overlapping the main rail base in normally spaced relation therefrom to permit slight turning movement of the mainrail and adapted to be engaged by the main rail base and limit said turning movement.

15. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate adapted to support a main rail for slight turning movements thereon, a chair mounted on the tie plate beside the main rail, bolts for holding the chair in place, and washers attached to the bolts and projecting laterally from the chair overlapping the main rail base and spaced above said main rail base in position to contact therewith.

16. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate, a main rail, a guard rail chair mounted on said tie plate, and fastening means for securing the chair directly to the tie plate, said means adjacent to and overlapping the main rail base.

17. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate, a main rail, a guard rail chair mounted on said tie plate, and boltsconnected with the tie plate and chair securing the chair directly to the tie plate, and means on the bolts overlapping the main rail base.

18. In a guard rail fastener, the combination of a tie plate having slots therein, a guard rail chair mounted on the tie plate, and bolts having end portions thereof mounted in the slots and constructed to prevent turning therein, and nuts on the opposite end portions of the bolts and bearing on portions of the chair to secure the and a washer interposed between the nut and chair and having an overhang on the inner side 'of the chair in position to prevent overturning of the main rail supported by the tie plate beside the chair.

THOMAS MANEY. 

